Scars
by ThePandorica
Summary: Each of their wounds tell a different story. Multiple characters and pairings - requests taken.
1. Lavender, Harry, Charlie, Bellatrix

"_The optimist already sees the scar over the __wound__; the pessimist still sees the __wound__ underneath the scar__"_ **– Ernst Schroder**

-:-

**Lavender - **_She wears her scars like velvet._

A criss-crossed pattern of silver lines running down her back, face and chest, she instantly draws attention from whomever she passes. Of course, it's not the first time she has ever caught people staring. It was strange at first... they viewed her like an animal in an exhibit. Something to be pointed at, pitied for and, in some cases, jeered at (but only by the Muggles who didn't know any better.)

But now, well...now she's learnt to deal with it. She's realised that the stares will just be a new part of her life, just like the scars. Slowly, she's learnt to make space for these strange markings on her skin, gained in a movement of teeth upon flesh in the darkness and bloody madness. Time is obviously the best healer, but when one has scars like her, even that healing power would take an eternity to fix her.

-:-:-

**Harry – **_His scar is a thing of the past. _

He's come to view nineteen years as a blessed number. That is, if he believed in any sort of God he would. No longer does he have to wear it like a brand on his forehead, a mark of whom and what he used to be – used to mean. Finally, that lightning bolt cut on his forehead is just another scar and not something that defines who he is, or who he could be in accordance to some sort of prophecy.

He's just Harry Potter, no longer Harry Potter The-Boy-Who-Lived. Just as he proclaimed so naively all those years ago in a dingy little shack, he's now 'Harry, just Harry'. No strings attached or false promises, deaths or battles. For once, he's his own man that defines his own future - his scar no longer defines him.

-:-:-

**Charlie – **_His scars signal danger._

To any onlooker, Charlie instantly draws a sort of shocked and awed attention to him. Even though his scars were not gained in battle, like so many other war heroes, they still stand out. Each of them vary, from the small silver scar on his right cheek from shaving too close, or from the large red mark across his chest from a Hungarian Horntail.

Dragon taming is a dangerous job and the scars are all part of the package. However, he has more than most tamers at his reserve which could either be viewed as brave or foolish. When people ask about them, he doesn't glamorise how or when he got them – but instead, tells them the simple and plain truth of it all. He's a Dragon Tamer. It's part of the job. …That still doesn't stop him from pulling witches, however.

-:-

**Bellatrix** – _Her scars are invisible._

It is mental, rather than physical marks that marr Bellatrix Lestrange. None can be seen to the naked eye, but rather the after-effects of gaining such a wound as hers can. A sudden and hidden glint of madness in her eye or a strained and cracked laugh that sounds from her lips are what betray her to the world. Her scars are etched deep inside of her and every day she is reminded of how horribly broken she is.

After all, despite her powerful and towering position amongst Voldmort's ranks, scars like hers are bound to leave a mark. Omnipresent – ever present but never changing they stay. One would call her 'crazy' whereas she would merley call herself a 'Victim of a Battle'. The scars inside her prove that.

-:-

**Review? **

Next shall be: Ron, Sirius, Lupin and Bill.


	2. Ron, Bill, Sirius, Remus

"_Children show scars like medals. Lovers use them as secrets to reveal. A scar is what happens when the word is made flesh."_ **– Leonard Cohen**

**-:-**

**Ronald: **_His scars make his children laugh. _

"Daddy, how did you get those lines on your back?" was the question that was constantly asked around the Burrow. Even though he'd told his children many times before, after Hermione had given them a stern lecture on being respectful to their father, they still found it funny.

"I was attacked by a Giant Brain, sweetheart," he answers time and time again, but each time another question arises. The children know the story of how he got them so well, they could all probably recite it back to him. …They probably already have at school, he thinks with amusement as their faces light up each time the story is told, before collapsing into fits of laughter.

However, when he thinks back to that night at the Department of Mysteries he can't help but squirm. Of course, it seems funny now but all those years ago, he was just a scared and naïve teenager who didn't know any better. His scars remind him of that.

-:-

**Bill: **_His scars shine in the moonlight. _

Every full moon, Bill takes a walk around the cottage. He can hear the sea lapping gently against the shore and the whispering wind in the bulrushes on the bank. It is here, in which he find peace. It started as a sort of escape, a therapeutic thing, to cope with the loss of Fred all those years ago. But now, it's become more of a ritual – a goodbye message to his brother, every time the moon is full.

He also does it because it is then that his scars become most obvious. Fleur insists that he should stop his monthly moonlit walk, but he objects to it every time she raises the question. The moon shows a part of who he is, and it reminds him to always value the life he's been given and the appearance of others around him. Once, he used to take great care in his appearance to appear 'cool' – ever the figurehead to his younger brothers. Yet now, he's taken a more relaxed view on things. After all, who needs to make an effort to get recognised when you're already singled out in the street by the marks on your face?

-:-

**Sirius: **_His scars got him the girls._

The brand from Azkaban. The teeth marks of his friend, turned werewolf, Remus. The silver flick that cuts across his eyebrow courtesy of a stray bludger – he's had them all. Of course his body is not as war tired as it appears, like Moody's, but it has definitely got a fair few 'knock and bruises.' Not that he minds of course. Throughout school, all sorts of witches fell at his feet because he was the 'scarred, gorgeous boy' and obviously, scars were viewed as supposedly 'manly'. Even at thirteen, he was not one to complain.

As he got older, the amount of scars he'd gained grew and grew. He wore them like a medal, something to show off and be proud of. Naturally there was an element of vanity hidden in his quest to show off his scars to any girl who showed an interest in them and – after all, who wouldn't? – asked about them. But then again, maybe he'd wished he'd not been so eager to gain scars to impress the ladies – the one from Azkaban wasn't exactly a pulling point.

-:-

**Remus: **_His scars brought him his friends._

They make him look tired and mark him out to be different. When he first started school, he was absolutely terrified of people's reaction to him. A werewolf at Hogwarts? To begin with he tried to keep his true self hidden for as long as possible – hiding behind books, study work and avoiding prying questions. But that was when he met them, the people whom he would grow up to call his Best Friends: James, Sirius and Peter. If he hadn't met them, then quite honestly he wouldn't have been sure how he'd survived his seven years at Hogwarts.

His scars gained him interest, but it was only the interest of his friends he was interested in. Since he was little, he'd learnt to look past face value and see people for who they truly were. …Looking back however, that philosophy turned highly ironic when Peter betrayed them. Perhaps he was only valued and talked to because of his scars after all.

-:-

**Review?**

Next will be: Regulus (as a request from Morghen), Luna, Terry and Tom Riddle Jr.


	3. Tom, Regulus, Luna, Terry

"_It's a shallow life that doesn't give a person a few scars."_ **– Garrison Keillor**

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**Tom: **_His scars are an echo of his power._

He has seven scars exactly. All different shapes and all different sizes, yet they are one and the same. Made in a flash of green light, the remnants of something that made these scars are locked up and hidden away. All that is left is a jagged, gaping sore that is split seven ways.

Sometimes, in his darkened musings when there is no-one around, doubts creep into the corner of his mind. Is all the scarring really worth the immortality? Is it worth ripping yourself apart, so that not even a former shadow of who you once were is left? Then, it comes to him like a bolt of lightning – maybe seven isn't the most powerful number of all. It's the most destructive.

-:-

**Regulus: **_There's one scar he regrets getting._

Of course, it's not so much a 'scar' but rather a mark. Still – it bears the same description: something that's gained through pain or as an experience and something that will stay with you forever. A blemish, a scar, a mark: they're all the same thing. Naturally, he gained it to please his parents. It was never a case of trying to outshine his older, and now disgraced, brother. At least, that was what he always told himself.

But then, as he grew up (and he had to, in the dark circle that he had now included himself in,) he realised that being a 'Death Eater' was not all he had expected it to be. His older brother was in jail – accused of a crime he know he didn't commit – and the Dark Lord had turned his back on the promise Regulus had made to him all those years ago - to make a better world. From his point of view he'd only made it worse.

Destroying the locket wasn't the hard part. It was dying in the knowledge that no-one, despite his final good deed, would ever know about it. At least, that was what he thought.

-:-

**Luna:** _She doesn't mind the scars._

It's all part of the job really – being a naturalist. The War taught her to love others scars, and in turn she'd gained and eventually come to love some of her own. On her first date, with her then boyfriend Rolf, she'd worn a strapless white dress that showed off all her scars in their glory. At first, he didn't believe that they were scars that so 'tainted her skin,' but she'd laughed and replied "I rather like them – they're part of who I am."

Her favourite scar is the one she'd gain in fourth year. She'd been trying to shake the Nargles from the mistletoe and had successfully walked straight into a sharp corner of an open door. It reminded her of not just her time at Hogwarts, as she believed there were better things to remember from her time there, but of her innocence of things around her. Of course now, Nargles aren't exactly her main problem. It's the Crumple-Horned Snorkack she has to look out for.

-:-

**Terry:** _His scars aren't important._

A paper cut on his right index finger, a burn mark from the many practices that were held in the Room of Requirement, tiny white lines underneath his eyebrows where the Carrow's shattered his glasses – whilst he was wearing them. The jagged, harsh line along his leg where he'd cut it against the table whilst under the Cruciatus Curse. No, they're not important. None of those marks are important.

As an individual, he doesn't view himself as generally 'very important'. Of course, being made a General in the 7th Year for the DA helped – but he only saw himself as part of a stronger unit. One that was willing to help and overcome the influence of the Carrow's as soon as possible. Besides as a Ravenclaw, he knows that he's not particularly measured on 'face-value' unlike the vast majority of the Gryffindor's and Hufflepuff's. He's counted for his intelligence – and if one were to cut down deep enough, through the scars and the blemishes he has gained, one would see that his blood runs blue - very much like the Ravenclaw Crest emblazoned on his robes.

-:-

Next up are: Draco (as a request from dracocrazy322), Hermione, Oliver and Marietta.


	4. Oliver, Draco, Marietta, Hermione

"_Turn your scars into stars."_ **– Robert H. Schuller**

-:-

**Oliver:** _Not all of his scars are Quidditch related. _

He still loves Quidditch, and has the scars to prove that he does – but it'd be foolish to think that all the scars he's ever gained are from the loveable game. He'd be lying obviously, if he said that the vast majority of them aren't, but there are the few odd ones that are actually due to other things.

The small scar by his left eye was from a duel in his fourth year. It was actually the first time that he found that Katie Bell could aim a decent hex, and unfortunately he got in the way. He didn't really mind the bleeding much, as it was Katie and who could not adore her? The second scar, running along the palm of his right hand, was courtesy of the Weasley Twins casting a '_genimo_' charm on his wand. The cheeky buggers paid for that burn – he'd made sure of that, although he likes it as it reminds him of their mischievous ways, even with Fred missing now.

He doesn't mind the scars anymore, but rather keeps them as a token, a gift, of his time at Hogwarts. Plus, it's to prove to the others that he's not just Quidditch-mad – although they hardly ever believe him.

-:-

**Draco:** _He doesn't hide his scars anymore. _

Once upon a time, many eons ago it seems now, (even if was only just a few months,) Draco tried to hide his scars. His marks of the War showed just exactly whose side he fought on, although now he's not too sure. His parents are reformed members of society, yet they still bear the mark – they all do. It's not something one can bear easily.

However, it's fading now - something for which he is grateful. He's able to move on – almost – and he doesn't try to hide it anymore. Sure, there are the occasional whispers and glances at _that_ mark which is only just beginning to fade on his own pale skin, but he takes it in his stride. From now on, he's not going to hide who he is, who he was, anymore. From now on he's a new man – his _own_ man.

-:-

**Marietta:** _Her scars still haven't faded._

To say she regrets her decision would be a complete understatement. She wishes, day in an out, that she had never told on the DA. But unfortunately for her, her scars don't know that. They're still there, even though the pustules went after about a month through several spells but the scars remained.

SNEAK- it's not something which she's proud of, and the makeup she now wears just about covers it, even a year after the War has finished. Once she went to see Hermione to ask her about the scars, but the young witch just shook her head and said that there was nothing she could do. She still thinks she's lying.

-:-

**Hermione: **_Her scar makes her remember the pain._

It's thin and barely visible to the naked eye, but it's there. Stretching only a centimetre along her neck, silver white and thin – like a knife edge – she sometimes forgets that she has it. It's not something she wants to remember but then again, she can't forget it. Occasionally she sees it in the mirror, in the gap between the beads of a necklace or a scarf and then she remembers who made it.

Bellatrix Lestrange. She's dead, never to rise and wreak havoc on her life or the Wizarding World again, for which she is eternally grateful. But, even though the witch has gone, she's still left a lasting mark on her life. Every time she sees it, she remembers her – her gleeful, malice shining eyes as the knife was pressed against her throat. Something so barbaric, she sometimes thinks that it was only a dream, but then she remembers the pain and knows.

Nothing that terrifying could ever be just a part of a nightmare.

-:-

**Review? **

Next shall be: Merope, Molly Weasley, Teddy and Neville.


	5. Merope, Molly, Teddy, Neville

"_Sometimes your first scars won't ever fade away"_ **– The Script**

**-:-**

**Merope:** _Her scar is one of heartbreak._

A diagonal tear: jagged, uneven and most definitely unnecessarily made. Somewhere, deep deep down inside her, she knew that he'd never love her. Once she'd stop giving him the potion that there'd still be _nothing_ there and he'd leave her – which he did. In fact the only mark that he'd left of his existence was the growing baby, their baby, inside of her and the shattered pieces of her heart.

She picked them up, and sewed them back together like a rough, unskilled craftsman. In its place, was a deeply scarred organ – one that barely sustained her, let alone the other little person growing inside her. She hoped that heartbreak and the scar she carried wasn't hereditary. That her child could grow up happy and without any pain or heartbreak: without having to ever go through losing a loved one.

She just didn't realise how true her wish would become.

-:-

**Molly:** _Her family's scars are her own._

She has always been a selfless person, although of course she doesn't view herself in that way. Yet, she had always viewed her family's faults, their problems and worries, as her own. She'd get angry and lecture her children and even her brothers when they had been around, but she'd always berate herself afterward. Every death or hurt, hurt Molly deeply too – and Fred's death was the final straw. She decided never again. Not after what all her family had been through: Fabian, Gideon, Arthur, Ginny, Percy, Bill and George. Someone had to pay for the scars they'd caused them and in turn, caused her.

But then, she never felt that sense of overwhelming relief once she'd killed Bellatrix. Naturally her actions "Not my daughter, you bitch!" would have spoken otherwise to the strength of her feelings, but the aftereffects weren't as relieving as she'd expected them to be. Voldemort was dead and now…what? So she wept tears of joy, sadness and relief. Maybe she'd been scarred too deeply, carried to hard an emotional burden for so long, to be relieved. Scars like hers had integrated themselves for too long – they were now a part of her.

-:-

**Teddy:** _Sometimes, he wishes he had scars._

His father had them, so he had been told and shown through various photographs and stories. His mother had them too – although he'd never seen them himself. He knew about them: Remus and Nymphadora, the famous War Heroes. Since he was little he'd always been followed by sympathetic stares and words of condolences. Something he was now sick of – yet, he still wanted to know about his parents. From the various photographs he knew that he didn't look like either of them, which saddened him – despite having inherited his mother's ability as a metamorphagus. He wishes he had scars, like his father.

Of course, he knew what his father was – but he'd wanted something _lasting_ – something that would last as his appearance was obviously so interchangeable. He was never brave enough to cause such an injury however, and so he waited. One picked up scars sooner or later in life. So, when he fell onto the gravel after a nasty fall from the goal hoops during one practise, causing a nasty gash on his knee, he tried to hide it. It hurt like hell at first, but soon it was healed and freshly jagged scar was present on his knee. It was one of the best moments of his life.

-:-

**Neville:** _His scars changed him._

He'd always been known as 'that clumsy boy in Gryffindor,' and he'd hated it. But then the change to prove himself came, the chance that he'd grasped with both hands and taken in an instance: the Battle of Hogwarts. The training of the DA had been rigorous and as its leader he'd taken a fair few emotional knocks as he'd watched their number become fewer and fewer over the year and the time of the Battle. He'd scarred, physically and emotionally and now, he'd changed and people had begun to notice it.

It wasn't something he himself had planned on, changing so drastically that even Hannah became a little scared of him at points, but it had and for which he was glad. Yet again, his scars had also numbed him to the _pain_ and the sadness surrounding him. He had truly become a commander to the soldiers in his army, duty bound before all else. His scars were signs of his duty and it was maybe that that'd changed him so.

As a young boy, he'd so badly wanted to change and several years on he had - but just not in the way he'd imagined.

-:-

Next up are: Dumbledore, Snape, Lily and James Potter (I)


End file.
